Skyward Sword Wasn't Going to Feature Motion Controls At First

In the latest edition of Iwata Asks, Nintendo revealed that The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword wasn't originally meant to feature motion controls. As translated by Siliconera, Producer Eiji Aonuma wanted the game to sport a more traditional button-based control scheme. Director Hidemaro Fujibayashi, however, insisted that the game feature Wii MotionPlus technology after seeing the potential in Wii Sports Resort's sword and archery mechanics.

Another aspect of the game that was tweaked was the new beetle item. Apparently, it was originally going to be a regular ol' boomerang, and then a flying hand. Thankfully, the devs decided to turn it into the super cool beetle that we've seen in action. Because come on, a flying hand?

Lastly, according to the interview, it was planned for gamers to cycle through their inventory by twisting their wrists, but that idea was scrapped after the folks over at Nintendo remembered that we're not robots and can't turn our wrists 360 degrees. Thank goodness for that, because this would have felt incredibly tacked on. Plus, the current inventory system looks awesome, and I wouldn't want to trade that in for any sort of wrist-twisting tomfoolery.

It's interesting that Nintendo didn't originally plan on including motion controls in one of its major releases. There will undoubtedly be a number of skeptics out there who state that it is now apparent that Nintendo pulled a Twilight Princess and added motion controls to Skyward Sword "just because." I'd like to point out, though, that after having spent a bit of time with the game previously, the motion controls are fully functional and feel anything but tacked on.

David Sanchez
David Sanchez is the most honest man on the internet. You can trust him because he speaks in the third person.